


Home, At Last

by tlakht



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Bisexual Dean Winchester, Christmas, Coming Out, First Kiss, First Time, Future Fic, M/M, Mistletoe, Not Canon Compliant, kids playing matchmakers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-02 11:22:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17263334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tlakht/pseuds/tlakht
Summary: Dean and Cas spend the holidays in Vermont with Sam and Eileen, who retired from hunting years ago and now have two adorable kids who are too curious about the exact nature of the relationship between their Uncle Dean and Uncle Cas for Dean's taste.But then again... Dean's kinda curious too, and, well. It's about time he came out to his family, right?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be posted before Christmas, but it took on a life on its own and became much longer than I had planned, at the same time as December became a lot more busy than I expected.
> 
> I haven't had the time to edit it as much as I would have liked, but I hope it's okay anyway :)

The snow crunched underneath their feet as they stepped out of the taxi that had taken them from the airport. Dean breathed in deeply, the Vermont winter air cold and fresh from the snowflakes flurrying around in it, and he took in the sight of the familiar house in front of them, a warm glow coming from inside. Beside him, Cas's hair had already begun to collect flecks of white, and as the car started driving away, they walked up the stairs to the porch. The front door was decorated with branches of spruce adorned with lights and a red bow tying them together.

The joyous shouts of "Uncle Dean! Uncle Cas!" could be heard from inside before Dean had even pressed the doorbell, and he smiled to himself. He couldn't wait to see the kids again. However long it took between each time he saw them, it always seemed like too long. A quick glance at Cas revealed that he, too, was just as excited to see them again. There had never been any question as to whether or not Cas was included in Sam's family; he was as much their uncle as Dean was.

The door was unlocked from inside and unceremoniously flung open, and Dean suddenly found himself with the arms of an eager 6-year-old wrapped around his waist, Cas in much the same situation beside him. "Hey, kiddos!" Dean grinned and bent down to hug each of the twins in turn as Cas did the same, and then he dropped his duffel bag onto the porch and lifted the little brunette in his arms up in the air. She squealed with delight – a sound Dean knew he'd never tire of.

The boy tugged Cas's sleeve eagerly. "Uncle Cas, can you lift me?"

Someone cleared their throat, and then Sam appeared in the hallway closely followed by Eileen, both of them looking delighted to see Dean and Cas again.

"Charlie, Bobby, don't you think you're getting too big for that stuff?" Sam had a big smile on his face as he spoke and signed the words at the same time. It distracted Bobby enough that he didn't expect it when Cas suddenly picked him up and hoisted him up over his head, drawing sudden peals of laughter from the child.

"Don't be silly, Sam," Cas monotoned as he put the boy on his shoulders. "Dean and I are going to keep lifting them until they're 18, at least." Dean couldn't help but grin; maybe he was getting a bit sentimental, but it never failed to make him smile, the way Cas was with the kids and the way he seemed so secure in his place in this family. 

Sam laughed. "Well, don't blame me if you end up with back pain in a few years."

"You should totally blame him," Eileen said as she went to hug Cas and Dean, even as they were carrying one child each. "He's the one who's supplied the giraffe genes." Dean was sure Sam would've tried to defend himself if Eileen had been able to see his hands or mouth. Being deaf clearly had one benefit, when living with Sam: being able to shut him up by turning your back to him. Add Sam's god-awful snoring to that, and Dean was pretty sure Sam was easier to deal with on the whole if you were deaf. It was probably one of the reasons why their relationship was going so well, actually.

"Trust me, I will," Dean replied, dipping Charlie as he bent to pick up his duffel, drawing laughter from the child once more before putting her down on her feet again and following her inside.

Sam and Eileen's house was an old, but renovated, farmhouse that she had inherited seven years ago now from a great-uncle she hadn't even known about. It had come at an opportune time for her and Sam, just as they had been ready to retire from hunting and settle down together. Dean had always liked the house. It felt like a proper home. More so than the bunker – not that Dean didn't feel at home there, but… the reality was that it was still a bunker: a concrete block that also served as their headquarters. This, however… this was a _home_ , and it never failed to fill Dean with warmth when he entered it. Especially when it was decorated for Christmas, like now, the lights and garlands and figurines bringing Dean a sense of joy and wonder that he couldn't ever remember getting from Christmas as a child. Of course, the smell of Eileen's home cooking didn't hurt, either.

"Dinner's ready," Eileen said, as if she could read Dean's mind – or more likely, Dean's facial expression as he took in the inviting smell. Neither he nor Cas had to be told twice, and in no time, they had stowed away their bags in the guest room and were seated with the rest of the family at the dinner table.

Eileen could roast a mean leg of lamb, and it was a long time since Dean had eaten anything this good. The company, however, was even better. Dean couldn't think of anything quite like having a hearty meal with the people he loved the most. It was clear that both the kids and Sam and Eileen were happy to have him and Cas there, the conversation flowing freely and enthusiastically.

Despite the frequent Skype conversations that had taken place lately, there was still a lot to be updated on, like Charlie and Bobby's eager stories about things they'd been doing at school or with their friends. Stuff that involved teachers and children Dean and Cas didn't know, but it was important to the kids, so they loved hearing about it anyway. Dean was unable to follow everyone's signing – he knew some ASL by now, but not nearly as much as all the other people around the table – but as always, the conversation was both signed and spoken so both Dean and Eileen could easily follow what was being said.

Cas was as fluent in ASL as in every other language, of course, and although that shouldn't be weird to Dean (especially considering Dean had known this for years now) it never failed to fascinate him, watching Cas's hands move effortlessly and gracefully as he spoke. It was just yet another way Cas seemed so at home here, and Dean loved seeing Cas fit in like this. Being a part of a family. A part of _their_ family.

Maybe he lost himself a bit in thought, staring at Cas's hands, because Cas met his eyes with a warm, amused smile as if he could tell that Dean wasn't following what they were talking about anymore. He probably could. 

***

The first night in Sam and Eileen's house was always the best – especially this time of year, when the beds in the guest room were covered in enough blankets to stave off the cold of the Vermont winters. There was something so comforting about sinking into the warmth of the bed; it brought a feeling similar to the one Dean thought he could still remember – vaguely – from when he was four and his mother had tucked him into bed, kissing his forehead and telling him angels were watching over him.

And now here he was, an angel lying only a few feet away from him snuggled up under his own blankets, quietly watching Dean get into bed. Years ago, Dean would have told him it was creepy, but it was a long time since Cas's presence and gaze had ever brought anything but comfort. He could hardly complain when he couldn't help but meet Cas's gaze with his own and hold it in a silent exchange.

Dean didn't know if the affection he saw in Cas's eyes – the one that was always there in their quiet moments together, like this – was the same affection that must be present in Dean's own gaze. But it was enough to keep him spellbound for a while, lulled by the quiet comfort of it in the near-darkness.

Eventually his body started giving into the exhaustion from the last few months of hunting, now that he could allow himself a good night's sleep without worrying about anything, and he yawned.

Cas smiled. "Sleep, Dean."

It wasn't hard to follow Cas's gentle order, and within only a minute, Dean was doing precisely what Cas had told him to, no thoughts of cases and monsters interrupting the peaceful calm of the room.

 

***

 

The bad thing about Sam and Eileen living all the way up in Vermont was that it was usually hard to find the time to visit unless there happened to be a hunt in the area, or Dean manned up enough to get his ass on a plane, like he had this time. The good thing about them living in Vermont was… well. This. The children had insisted on dragging him and Cas out to the backyard for a snowball fight, and they were now all playing in the snow, bundled up in warm winter jackets, hats, scarves and ski pants.

Dean and Bobby were on one team, hiding inside their fort from the onslaught of snowballs that Cas and Charlie had spent the first five minutes making inside their own fort. Cas's aim was remarkably (but not surprisingly) accurate, with both hands, and of course he was aiming mostly for Dean. It was only at Charlie's shouted "Cowards!" that Dean finally abandoned his tactic of waiting out their supply of ready-made snowballs and looked above the edge of the fort again to aim one at Cas, but he was the one who got hit right in his face instead.

Bobby giggled at Dean's new "Santa beard" and stood up to touch it, and almost immediately he, too, was hit by a snowball.

"That's it," Dean grumbled, wiping his face and taking cover again as Bobby did the same. They went for it with renewed effort, sticking their heads up just long enough to get an accurate aim, and then ducking down again immediately.

Both teams had gotten a few more facefuls of snow when Sam came out the back door to announce that there were would be sandwiches and hot chocolate inside in ten minutes. Dean let the snowball in his hand fly toward his little brother just as he saw Cas throw one as well. Sam yelped and twisted into a defensive stance, but he was still hit in the head and stomach simultaneously. He laughed and remained there a few moments longer for the sake of the children, letting them get in a few shots as well, but as soon as Dean left his fort and headed his way, he quickly brushed off as much snow as he could and slammed the door in Dean's face.

Dean was about to head back to his fort when a snowball caught his ear, and he quickly realised he was out in the open. Deciding that the best defense was a good offense, he headed toward the other fort instead, shouting "Cover me!" to Bobby.

Bobby's efforts didn't do much to deter the other team, and they'd gotten in a few more hits by the time Dean reached them. Charlie squealed as Dean grabbed a handful of snow and shoved it in Cas's face. He was about to do it again when Cas caught his wrist with one hand and used his other to gleefully shove snow down the back of Dean's neck.

Dean was too distracted by the icy cold sensation of rapidly melting snow underneath his clothes to put up much of a fight as Cas wrestled him to the ground.

"Go Uncle Cas!" was shouted by one of the kids, and Dean turned his head to see Bobby standing there with Charlie, both of them cheering for Cas.

"Bobby, you traitor. You're on my—" Dean didn't get to finish the sentence before he had a mouthful of snow, generously put there by Cas. He spat it out and tried to flip Cas over onto his back, but he wouldn't budge. That was what it was like to wrestle an angel, Dean supposed. A cheating, no-good angel who used his (greatly diminished, but still no match for a human) powers for evil.

"Do you admit defeat?" Cas's eyes were filled with childlike glee, and although Dean gave it one more futile attempt, he didn't have it in him to be annoyed with him.

"Fine, whatever. You win." He rolled his eyes for show anyway, but the joyous smile on Cas's face made his defeat feel more like a victory and warmed his heart almost as much as Cas pulling him to his feet and gently brushing the snow off his face did. The careful hands on his face made Dean feel off-balance – even though he should be used to Cas's lack of personal space by now – and he had to keep himself from swaying even closer to Cas. Conscious of the kids watching them, he pulled away as he wiped the last bit of snow off himself. "Come on, guys. Let's go get sandwiches and hot chocolate."

"Hot chocolate!" Charlie shouted, throwing her hands in the air and running to the front door on other side of the house, where the broom for brushing snow off their clothes and boots was, her brother following close behind.

Dean smiled at the kids' enthusiasm, and turned to Cas again. "Come on, let's go. I know you like hot chocolate just as much as the kids do."

"True," Cas admitted easily. "But not as much as you."

"Yeah, well." Dean gave Cas what he liked to think was a winning smile. "I'd like me better than hot chocolate, too."

Cas snorted. "You're full of yourself, Dean." His face softened, even as he shook his head. "But you're not wrong."

Dean couldn't help but flush. It wasn't like it was a love declaration, but the softness of Cas's voice conveyed the affection behind the sentiment, and while Dean _knew_ he meant a lot to Cas, hearing him say it out loud was always… confusing. Not because he wasn't sure of his own feelings for Cas; he was. Had been for many years now. No, it was confusing because he never knew quite what Cas meant when he said those things. Whether his feelings were the same as Dean's, or whether his affection was solely of the 'best friend' variety.

"Yeah, okay." Dean cleared his throat as he stepped onto the porch. The kids were already inside. "A chick-flick moment wasn't what I was going for there, but, uh, thanks."

"You like 'chick flicks', Dean." He didn't use air quotes anymore, but Dean could still hear them in his speech.

"Whatever," Dean shrugged, knowing Cas would see right through him if he tried to lie. "Just don't tell anyone."

"Who would I tell? Everyone knows, Dean. You're not as good at hiding it as you think you are." Cas looked as playful as he only ever did here, and Dean felt a sudden warmth suffusing his core, threatening to spill over into a smile of his own.

"You know what? I wasn't going to get you back for the snowball fight, but now…" He shook his head, unable to completely suppress the smile that demanded to be let out. "I'll get you when you least expect it."

Cas's smile didn't dim at all. "You can certainly try."

*** 

While they were drinking their hot chocolate, they also set about decorating the tree, which the kids had insisted stay undecorated until Dean and Cas arrived so they could take part in decorating it. Which really just meant sitting on the couch, getting the decorations out of the boxes and untangling Christmas lights and watching while the kids did most of the decorating, hanging baubles, popcorn garlands and other decorations – some of them made by the children – on the tree.

The star for the top of the tree, however, seemed to be missing, and Eileen asked Cas to come with her to help look for a last box of Christmas tree decorations in the attic.

"I would get Sam to do it" she explained, "but he always forgets how tall he is and hits his head on the rafters."

Sam denied it vehemently, saying it was all lies, but Bobby piped up with a "But Daddy, you still have a bump on your head from when you went to get the other boxes," which shut Sam up and gave Dean something to laugh about.

He didn't get to laugh long, however; almost as soon as Cas and Eileen were out of the room, Charlie seemed to suddenly remember something she'd been wanting to ask: "Uncle Dean, why don't you and Uncle Cas sleep together?"

It took everything Dean had not to spit out the sip of hot chocolate he'd just taken, especially at the sound of a choked-off laugh from Sam. With great effort, he swallowed and placed his mug down carefully before looking the girl in the eyes, refusing to meet Sam's mirthful gaze.

"What do you mean, pumpkin?"

"Why don't you have the beds pushed together so it's one big bed, like when we have other guests? So it's like Mom and Dad's bed?"

Dean cleared his throat, trying to think of the best way to explain. Sam looked increasingly amused, watching Dean, so Dean did his very best not to look at him. "Well, uh, you see, your Mom and Dad are married. And those other guests, they're probably married too, or at least couples. That's what couples do, they sleep in the same bed."

"I know," Charlie said matter-of-factly. "So why don't you and Uncle Cas?"

This time, Sam couldn't contain his laughter, and if Dean hadn't been too busy trying to make his jaw work properly, he would have definitely sent his brother a murderous glare. He managed to collect himself enough, however, to answer the girl.

"Um. Sweetie, Uncle Cas and I aren't… we're not… a couple." The words "Cas" and "couple" in the same sentence felt weird and foreign on his tongue.

"Why not?" Bobby piped up, forehead wrinkled up in a frown as if he disapproved of the fact. "Don't you love him?"

The kids were really asking the difficult questions today. They were probably gonna grow up to be lawyers, like their dad had tried to do, cross-examining the witness and all that. "Ah." Dean scratched his neck, trying to figure out how to navigate this conversation without disillusioning the children or revealing too much. "I… of course I love him, buddy. It's just… there are different kinds of love, y'know, not just the romantic type. I mean, I love you guys, too." He leaned down towards them and lowered his voice, pretending to whisper, "And I even love your big old oaf of a dad. But don't tell him I said that." The kids giggled, and Dean could only hope that that signalled the end of the conversation.

Of course he wasn't that lucky. Being Sam and Eileen's kids and therefore smart as hell, they never let go of something until they figured it out. Charlie looked thoughtful for a moment, and then continued her line of reasoning: "But Leon has two uncles who live together, like you and Uncle Cas. And they're boyfriends."

Bobby nodded. "Yeah. And Miss Larsen says it's okay for two boys or two girls to fall in love."

 _It's okay._ Dean supposed it was, but that didn't change the way this conversation had his heart thumping just a little bit faster than normal. He was never going to dismiss any of the children's questions or give them bullshit answers just because he wasn't entirely comfortable, however. 

"That's true, it doesn't matter who you fall in love with. But… not all men can fall in love with other men. Most men only like women that way. And most women only like men." He knew what he was setting himself up for here. There just didn't seem to be any way around it.

"Do you only like women, Uncle Dean?" Bobby asked, with all the innocence of, well, a child.

Dean had never imagined he'd be coming out like this, but… maybe it wasn't so bad. The kids were just curious; they didn't have it in them to be judgmental. Neither did Sam, for that matter. Still, Dean needed a deep breath while he prepared himself mentally. His eyes met Sam's, and there was an intensity in the way Sam looked at him that suggested the long pause had made it obvious by now that the answer might not be yes. Either that, or Sam had known all along.

Dean's eyes flickered away. Looking at the kids was easier – they didn't understand that what Dean was about to say was kind of a big deal for him. Even though, now that he was finally about to say it, it actually seemed easier than he'd ever thought it would be. "No," he said, finally, releasing all the air in his lungs as he beckoned both children over to him so he could hug them and tousle their hair, needing that bit of physical comfort. "No, not only."

He dared to look up at Sam again, and was instantly reminded of Mom – the way she'd looked at Dean sometimes when he was a kid, when she'd been extra proud of him. The exact same expression was on Sam's face right now: a sappy little grin and eyes that were a little shinier than normal. Dean wondered what Sam could read from his own expression. 

"Does Uncle Cas like boys?" Charlie seemed blithely unaware that she was interrupting a silent chick-flick moment.

Sam got up from where he was sitting and put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Hey. Why don't you two go and ask him that yourselves?"

The two kids ran off eagerly, and Dean couldn't help but wonder what answer Cas would give them. 

"Dean." Sam towered over Dean like the colossus he was and offered Dean a hand.

"Dude, we don't have to—"

"Dean, we're doing this whether you want to or not." Sam grabbed Dean's hand and pulled him up, and if Dean maybe helped a little, well, at least Sam didn't mention it.

Sam was a great hugger. Dean would deny it until his dying day, but there were few things that were more comforting than being enveloped in those giant arms. Especially right now, and he wrapped his own arms around his brother's back and held on. He'd told Sam – finally – and Sam was okay with it. Was happy Dean had said it.

"Did you know?" He mumbled it into Sam's shoulder, and felt the soft chuckle in response.

"No. I wondered, sometimes. But I never knew. Thank you for not dodging the kids' questions."

Dean shrugged, but didn't dislodge Sam's arms. "I couldn't do that to them."

They stood like that, hugging, for a long time, and Dean felt tears prickle in his eyes even as he wondered how the cross-examination of Cas might be going down

Finally, Cas and Eileen came into the living room again, kids in tow, and then the kids ran in front of them again. 

"Uncle Dean, Uncle Dean! Uncle Cas likes boys too! Now you can be boyfriends!"

Dean blushed as he released himself from Sam's grip. His mind distantly registered the fact that Cas was into dudes and tucked it away for later scrutiny, but right now he was preoccupied with the fact that within the space of just a few minutes, they'd all now found out that _he_ was into dudes. A whole lifetime of keeping it to himself, and a few innocent questions from the kids was all it took to get him to reveal it. 

For a moment, it all felt kinda scary – he'd lived with this secret for so long now that it was kind of intimidating to face them all without that mask he'd worn all his life – but then Sam shushed the kids while Eileen came forward to give Dean a big hug, and Dean tried to fight the tears that were welling up in his eyes. He had never known how emotional it would actually be to come out. He'd expected the main feeling to be nervousness, but along with it was also an overwhelming feeling of relief, catharsis and something he couldn't quite put his finger on that wasn't actually sadness – far from it – but still threatened to make him cry. 

Eileen released him and told him she was proud of him for telling them, and then Dean was facing Cas. There was a gentle smile on his face, and he took half a step closer as if testing whether Dean wanted a hug or not. Right now Dean would take all the physical contact he could get, and he just raised his arms. Cas stepped into the embrace, holding him tightly. He didn't say anything, but words weren't needed; Dean knew Cas could tell this was an important moment for him even though he probably didn't understand why someone's sexuality was such a big deal for humans. Not having a gender himself, it was all probably all the same to Cas, but the way he hugged Dean showed that he knew Dean needed this comfort right now.

Standing there with Cas's arms around him, Dean felt silly about the fact that he'd never told any of them about it before, because they were nothing if not supportive. Dean had _known_ they would be, yet for some stupid reason he'd never felt like he could tell them due to his own damn insecurities.

Cas smiled gently at Dean after the hug, and they looked at each other maybe a moment too long, because that was the moment the kids went crazy again about the fact that Dean and Cas both liked men, urging them to kiss because there was _obviously no reason for them not to be together now._

Dean felt a blush coming on, but Cas began to chuckle, laugh lines appearing at the corners of his eyes, and Dean couldn't help but release a relieved laugh of his own.

"Children, behave," Eileen said, although she, too, looked amused. "Just because two men are attracted to other men, that doesn't mean they _have to_ be in love." The "but they can be" went unspoken with the questioning look she sent each of them that Dean refused to meet.

Dean appreciated Eileen's attempt to help, however, but it really only made the situation worse when Bobby's next question was: "Uncle Cas, are you in love with Dean?"

Cas still looked genuinely amused at the kids' curiosity, but he didn't seem to have an answer for the question right away, meeting Dean's eyes in silence, and then Eileen put an end to the kids' questioning before he could answer.

"That's enough, you two. That's not an appropriate question to ask someone. Come on, let's finish decorating the tree."

Dean was relieved when the kids listened to her, but with the new knowledge he now had that Cas _was_ attracted to guys, he still couldn't help but wonder what his answer would have been. Whether it might be what Dean had never dared to hope for before now.

***  
Cas was already in bed when Dean entered the guest room after using the bathroom. It was the first time they were alone after the kids' attempt to get them together, and although Dean had almost forgotten about it for a while now, he suddenly flushed at the realisation that Cas _knew_ he was into dudes now. And he knew Cas did, too, and the subject of their potential feelings for each other had been brought up by the kids. It would become the elephant in the room – at least for Dean (he didn't know how Cas felt about it) – if they didn't address what had happened somehow.

"So, uh." Dean scratched his neck and then faced away from Cas to turn off the overhead light. It was a coincidence that the near-darkness happened to hide his blush as he walked to the bed while he continued speaking. "The kids went kinda crazy earlier today. With the, um. Trying to get us together thing."

Cas smiled, looking amused again. "Yes. They did."

Dean didn't quite know how to continue. He sure as hell wasn't going to go down the "I like you, do you like me?" route. No matter how much he'd already revealed today, he still wasn't ready for that. In the end, he just settled on "I think they just want us to be happy. To have what their parents have."

"And is that something you want? What Sam and Eileen have?"

Dean froze, breath stuck in his chest. "You mean…?" He only barely dared to gesture between the two of them.

"Oh." Cas chuckled, but this time his laugh fell more on the side of slightly awkward than amused. "I meant… stability. A normal life." A slight shrug, and then quieter, "Whether that involves me or not."

Dean's heart did a weird little double-thud in his chest. "I mean, yeah." He shrugged, but it probably didn't come off quite as nonchalant as he'd hoped. "As much as I love the bunker, it's more like a base between hunts than a proper home, y'know? I'd love to be able to just… give up hunting. Maybe live somewhere close to here, so we can see Sam and Eileen and the kids more."

Cas looked up. "We?"

Dean looked away and cleared his throat, his face hot. "I mean, if you wanted."

"So you don't want a wife?" Cas asked. "A family of your own?"

Dean wondered if Cas was fishing or just genuinely curious, and he met his eyes again. "I mean, I used to want those things, but not anymore. I've got you and Sam's family. That's enough." He carefully tried not to think about the fact that he was practically equating Cas to a wife, here, and whether or not Cas might pick up on that. "What about you?" Again, he tried to fake nonchalance, and again, it was probably unsuccessful.

"I want that too," Cas replied with a gentle smile.

Dean felt kind of breathless. It didn't necessarily mean anything, not anything romantic anyway, but he was still unable to control the wild hope that had his heart thumping faster in his chest.

"Good." He turned off his reading light, obscuring his face almost completely in darkness so he wasn't giving anything away with some stupid, lovestruck expression. "That's, uh. That's good." He lay down for sleep. "Night, Cas."

"Good night, Dean." 

It took Dean a long time to fall asleep, but when he did, his dreams were filled with possibilities.


	2. Chapter 2

As it turned out, the kids didn't give up on their plan to get Dean and Cas together.

Dean and Eileen were in the kitchen, making dinner together when Sam and the kids came back home from a shopping trip, and Bobby eagerly held up a tiny, white bag for Dean to see.

"Uncle Dean, look! Look what we bought!"

Dean took the bag from him and looked inside, not at all surprised to see that it was mistletoe.

"We're gonna hang it there," Charlie said excitedly, jumping up and down as she pointed up to the wide doorway between the kitchen and the dining room. There was a hook screwed into the frame, and a Christmas decoration with two silver bells was already hanging from it.

He couldn't get mad at the children, and their infectious enthusiasm even had him smiling, but he still narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Sam. "Was this your idea?"

Sam raised his hands in denial while he grinned. "I swear, I had nothing to do with it. The kids asked me if they could have five dollars to buy something for you and Cas."

Sam still looked awfully amused, though, and when Dean saw Eileen's eyes glimmer with amusement as well, and took in the kids' gleeful expressions, he held back a laugh that wanted to escape. Instead, he rolled his eyes, but he nonetheless picked Bobby up and lifted him, allowing him to hang the sprig of mistletoe there along with the decoration, and then he blew a raspberry on the boy's cheek, making him shriek and giggle. "There. That's your kiss."

"My turn!" Charlie begged, and Dean put the boy down and took her up into his arms.

Cas walked in, smiling at the sight of Dean blowing a loud raspberry on Charlie's cheek. She laughed and wriggled until Dean had to let her down on the floor again.

"Uncle Cas!" She ran over to Cas and tugged on his sleeve while she pointed to the mistletoe with her other hand. "Look, we bought mistletoe! And Uncle Dean is underneath it."

Cas allowed her to pull him over to where Dean was standing. "So I see."

"Now you're both under the mistletoe!" Bobby said eagerly. "You have to kiss!"

Cas's eyes crinkled at the corners. "Do we, now?"

"Yes!" Both children shouted in unison.

Cas's calm demeanor helped Dean relax about it. "Oh, fine," he said, giving them a put-upon look that had them cheering, but he quickly made sure to make it obvious he was aiming for Cas's cheek, not brave enough to try the alternative in case it wouldn't be welcomed.

"Not on the cheek," Charlie complained, but she was too late, Dean's lips meeting stubble. It might not be a proper kiss, but it still felt intimate; it wasn't like he had a habit of kissing his friends on the cheek, at least not guys, so this was… different.

"Uncle Cas, can you kiss Uncle Dean instead? Properly!"

"Kids, I think that's enough," Sam interrupted, clearly worried that the kids were taking this too far (even though he was grinning), but Cas was already leaning in. He, too, was aiming for the cheek, however.

Or so Dean thought until he was having a raspberry blown onto the place where his jaw met his neck. How the hell Cas knew that he was ticklish there, he had no idea, but he squirmed away from him, laughing. "You ass," he said and pushed at Cas, but Cas's smile was still playful and warm, and he swayed slightly back into Dean's space afterwards. Dean felt kinda breathless, but it was only because it had tickled so damn much. Or, well. Mostly.

*** 

"Night, sweetie." Sam and Eileen were putting the kids to bed, and Dean and Cas were waiting in the doorway for their turn to say good night to the kids. "Night, kiddo. You guys be good for Uncle Dean and Uncle Cas now, okay?"

Dean had suggested that Sam and Eileen go out on a date night while he and Cas watched the kids, and Cas had agreed readily, more than happy to look after the children and allow Eileen and Sam some time to themselves.

"Okay," Charlie agreed.

"Can we sleep in the same bed?" Bobby asked, and Eileen agreed to it on the condition that they sleep instead of stay up and talk or play, and made sure they knew that if they didn't do that, Dean or Cas could tell them to go back to their own beds.

"Can Uncle Dean and Uncle Cas read us a book?" Charlie asked.

Sam looked to Dean and Cas. Cas, in turn, looked at Dean; whenever the kids asked if Dean and Cas could read them a book, what they meant was for one of them to sit on Dean's lap and one of them on Cas's lap while Dean read. Cas had never mastered the art of reading children's books with passion, and although he didn't mind reading for the kids if Dean or their parents were unavailable, he never took offense when the kids wanted Dean to read instead of him. 

"Of course we will, pumpkin," Dean said.

The last words Sam and Eileen heard as they left the kids' room were from the book Dean had gotten them sometime last year: "That Sam-I-Am, that Sam-I-Am, I do not like that Sam-I-Am."

When the kids were asleep, Dean and Cas went into the living room and made themselves comfortable on the couch with the snacks and drinks Sam had bought for them earlier that day as thanks for watching the kids. The lights were turned down, and Cas lit the candles on the table, which was what Eileen always did when it was dark outside and they all sat down to watch something on TV. Cas must have decided he liked watching movies by candlelight.

Dean reached for the remote, opened the TV guide and made a happy noise when he saw that a rerun of Dr. Sexy was on. He was about to go to that channel when Cas grabbed the remote out of his hand. "We're not watching Dr. Sexy, Dean."

Dean tried to get the remote back, but Cas held it out of his reach. "Come on, dude. You never have an opinion on what to watch. Why do you care now?"

"Because I want to enjoy a nice evening alone in front of the TV with you, Dean." Dean's mind halted. That sounded awfully romantic, and he wondered if Cas knew that it came off that way. "I want to watch something nice, not a rerun of a bad TV show."

Dean would have sputtered at the word "bad" if it wasn't for the fact that Cas continued: "Besides, you only watch it because you have a crush on Dr. Sexy."

Actually, Dean still sputtered. "You – what? No, I—" He gaped, a dozen denials and excuses fighting each other at the tip of his tongue, but Cas's expression wasn't mocking; there was just the same playfulness and warmth that had been present in Cas's eyes almost the entire time they'd been here, and finally Dean realised he didn't have to deny this stuff anymore. He was out now. He could talk about guys, and no one would think less of him for hit. That didn't mean he wasn't going to grumble about being teased about it, however. He had to maintain some dignity. "Whatever. It's a valid reason. Dude's hot."

Cas smiled and looked almost proud of Dean. For resisting the urge to deny it, no doubt. The unbidden thought that Cas might have personal reasons for wanting Dean to be comfortable regarding his sexuality made its way into Dean's mind, but he ignored it. He didn't know that. He was probably just imagining that the things Cas did and said might have some kind of hidden meaning now that he knew about _Cas's_ sexuality.

But the fact that Cas knew Dean found Dr. Sexy… well, sexy, raised another question. "I, uh. I asked Sam if he'd known all along. It didn't even occur to me to ask you. You did know, didn't you?"

"About your crush on Dr. Sexy?" Cas teased again, making Dean huff an embarrassed laugh. "I did," he continued, more serious now and definitely not talking about Dr. Sexy anymore. He still said it in a way that let Dean know it wasn't a big deal to him, however. "I knew. I hoped you'd be comfortable enough to tell me sometime. To tell all of us." He laid a hand just above Dean's knee and squeezed. Dean knew it was just a show of support, and yeah, it was comforting, but Dean also had to push down the warm feeling he got that had nothing to do with the comfort of it, and more to do with the fact that his crush on Cas was way bigger than his crush on Dr. Sexy.

"Who would have thought it would be the kids who'd finally get it out of me?" Dean asked, finally growing more comfortable with the topic. Cas was so non-judgmental – wasn't even straight _himself_ (if there could even be such a thing as a "straight" angel, considering their lack of gender) – that Dean once again realised he'd been stupid for thinking he couldn't tell him.

"I wasn't surprised," Cas said. "You're good with them, Dean. You let yourself be the role model you should have had as a child. You're honest with them, and you show them love." Dean blushed, but Cas continued. "They adore you. Because you're a good person, Dean."

Dean wasn't good at taking compliments; he usually argued against them, but he wasn't going to be ungrateful to Cas. Because hearing Cas say those words… even while part of Dean wanted to disagree with them, there was another part of him that held on to Cas's voice uttering those sentiments, wanted to keep those words with him forever.

"You, uh." Dean covered Cas's hand with his own, feeling daring. "You too. You know that, right?"

And maybe Cas felt the same way Dean did about those compliments, because he only hummed in response, but a faint smile tugged on his lips as he looked at their hands on Dean's thigh.

"So," Dean said, careful not to move his hand off Cas's, but also trying not to be too obvious about leaving it there. "What do you want to watch, if not Dr. Sexy? You damn blasphemer," he huffed, trying to lighten up their conversation again.

"I was thinking I wanted to watch Love Actually. I've heard that it's a very good Christmas movie."

Dean blinked slowly, trying to keep his face from showing his reaction to that. "Uh. You know that that's a chick flick, right? Y'know, a romantic comedy?"

"I know," Cas said simply. It wasn't that Dean actually minded; he just wanted to know if Cas was okay with watching a romantic movie with him. Alone. In candlelight. Which he was, apparently. Not that that necessarily meant anything, he told himself.

He had to remove his hand from Cas's in order to find the movie and start streaming it, but Cas's hand remained where it was, and he casually half-covered it again with his own when he put it back down on his thigh, as if he just happened to place it on top of Cas's without meaning to. He was too aware of their hands to relax at first while they watched – of the feeling of Cas's hand beneath his own – but then he got too caught up in the movie to care that it was unusual for them to touch like this; to worry about it when, for each time they stretched to eat popcorn or peanuts or chocolate, they ended up a tiny bit closer to each other.

Dean blinked his eyes open at the feeling of someone running their hand through his hair. He was too sleepy to realise where he for a second, but… that wasn't a pillow beneath his head; it wasn't soft enough. It was… a shoulder. Cas's shoulder. And that was Cas's hand in his hair. Dean closed his eyes and leaned into it like a cat, not yet awake enough to realise what he was doing until he heard Cas huff a quiet laugh. He opened his eyes again and reluctantly removed his head from Cas's shoulder, blushing and looking at the screen rather than at Cas. The movie had ended, and he had no idea how long ago.

"Shit. I think I fell asleep like half-way through movie. Sorry."

"I don't mind. I enjoyed the first half."

"And the second?" Dean asked, curious now.

"I must admit I didn't pay much attention to the second half of the movie," Cas said, and Dean had no idea how to interpret that, but he was fully aware of how his heart wanted to interpret it.

"I need to use the bathroom." He realised too late that it sounded like he just wanted an excuse to get out of there – like Cas had made him uncomfortable – so he followed it up with "I'll be back in a minute. We can rewind and watch the rest if you want."

He got up before Cas could respond – he really did need the bathroom – but Cas could answer him afterwards anyway.

When he came back, Cas was standing in front of one of the two large living room windows, so Dean guessed they weren't going to watch the rest of the movie. He came up to stand beside Cas, leaving some room between them, but not much. Not as much as he might have a few days ago, before the possibility of something more had been planted in Dean's head by the children. Before the possibility of Cas having feelings for him had even seemed like a possibility at all. Maybe Dean was getting his hopes up, but it was beginning to seem more and more likely – but it was hard to know if it was just Dean's imagination, attributing Cas's words and actions with meaning that wasn't there.

"I thought I heard Sam and Eileen return," Cas said in explanation for why he was standing at the window. "But it was just a different car passing by."

Cas seemed contemplative, standing there, and he was still looking out the window even though knew by now that it wasn't Sam and Eileen he'd heard, so Dean waited to see if he'd say something else.

"It's beautiful here," he finally said, looking out, and Dean wondered if he was thinking about what they'd talked about the other day. About retiring and moving here. He didn't know if it was feasible; they didn't exactly have enough money for a house, and getting a loan might be hard with fake identities. The last thing Dean wanted if they were to settle down, was to get caught because of paperwork and end up in jail.

He pushed that thought aside. He didn't want to worry about anything right now; he just wanted to stand there with Cas and look at the beauty of the landscape outside. The snow. The trees. The dark blue, almost black, sky studded with bright stars.

"It would be cool to see the aurora sometime while we're here," Dean said. He wasn't sure why he said it, exactly; he'd never told anyone that he'd wanted to see it since childhood, and he hadn't thought about it in forever. "Sam says they've seen it a couple of times."

Cas hummed, and then he was moving his feet, shifting his balance. Not walking, exactly, but it still brought him even closer to Dean. "You've never seen it?"

Dean shook his head. "Nah. I remember seeing pictures of it as a kid, though. It seemed so distant from all the crap we were dealing with, y'know? It seemed kinda… I dunno, magical, or something." He shrugged, kinda embarrassed at the admission, but hell, if anyone was allowed to think something was "magical", it was children. Not that Dean had ever really had the opportunity to be a child.

"Look." Cas nodded towards the window, and Dean looked out.

"What am I look— Oh." Dean went silent as a tendril of white, pale light started winding its way across the sky. It moved faster than Dean would have thought; he'd seen videos of it, but he'd always assumed they'd been sped up. Soon, the tendril became wider and brighter, and it changed its colour to green as it pulsed and swirled and grew, and several other broad strands appeared next to it, flickering and pulsating in sudden bursts.

Dean exhaled a quiet "holy shit" in wonder. When he met Cas's gaze, Cas looked as awestruck as Dean felt, except he was looking at Dean, not the spectacular light show in the sky. 

"You're doing this, aren't you?" Dean asked. "Cas, your grace…"

"Will be fine," Cas reassured him, standing so close they were touching. "This doesn't take as much out of me as you might think. And I won't be needing my grace while we're here anyway. I can afford to show you this."

Some of the lights changed colour to a vibrant pink, and Dean couldn't help but let out an appreciative whistle.

"You shouldn't whistle at the aurora," Cas smiled, his voice intimate and close. "According to the folklore of certain North American indigenous peoples and the Sami people of Scandinavia, it will come and take you away if you whistle in its presence."

Dean looked up at the lights again. They were awe-inspiring, and at times they seemed to shoot down closer to Earth. Somehow, looking at them, he could easily understand how people had imagined they could come down to pluck someone off the surface and take them away. "Good thing I have my very own angel to protect me, then." Dean wasn't sure he'd meant to say that, and his heart beat just a little faster at his own words, Cas standing so close beside him.

"Yes. You're lucky I like you. I would never let the aurora take you away." Cas's smile was a soft, affectionate thing, only for Dean, and Dean's breath caught in his throat.

Dean didn't know how he would have replied if they hadn't been interrupted right then by the sound of Eileen and Sam pulling into the driveway, and he couldn't tell if he was relieved or disappointed that he didn't get to find out how the rest of their interaction would have played out. It _felt_ like they were on the same page, but it was hard to tell with Cas. The same guy who had called Sam an abomination without actually holding any ill will towards him could just as well tell Dean he liked him in what came off as a romantic way, without actually meaning it like that.

But… that was many years ago now, and Cas had gotten so much better at understanding the nuances of human conversation since. Especially with Dean. Dean liked to think he understood Cas pretty well most of the time, and vice versa.

The sound of keys in the front door pulled Dean from his thoughts, and he realised he'd never taken his eyes away from Cas, who still wore the same smile.

Cas reached out and squeezed Dean's arm. "Come on. Let's go talk to your brother and Eileen."

Dean followed, and tried not to grin when Sam asked them if they'd seen the northern lights and Cas pretended he hadn't had anything to do with them. Apparently, they were going to keep it between the two of them that Cas had created them just for Dean.

Half an hour later, Sam and Eileen had retired to bed, and Dean had just finished using the bathroom when he found Cas standing in the doorway to the guest room, looking inside.

"Something wrong?"

"I'll leave that for you to decide." Cas stood to the side so Dean could look in, and what he saw was… one bed. He knew it was technically two beds, but they were now pushed together and made up like one; the blankets piled on top of it were queen-sized, much like the bed now, and Dean would be willing to bet there was only a single fitted sheet covering the two mattresses as well. It was clearly done by the kids, judging by how untidy it looked, the blankets bunched up in places.

"Oh." Dean scratched his neck, his face warming. But Cas had said that it was up to Dean to decide if there was anything wrong with this. So… maybe that meant Cas was fine with it. "Well, I, um. We can try to find the other blankets if you want, but…"

"But?" Cas's expression was curious, open. He didn't seem like he minded that there was a "but".

"But… I'm okay with just straightening them out and… leaving it like this. I mean, if you're okay with it." Dean's ears felt hot, and he looked at the bed rather than Cas.

"Yes. I am."

*** 

"Hey, uh," Dean said into the darkness of the room once they were in bed ( _together_ , and oh, wasn't that something?), not quite ready to stop talking to Cas yet. "Thanks for showing me the aurora tonight, Cas. That was really something."

"Was it as magical as you imagined as a child?"

Dean didn't even have to think about it. "Yeah. Yeah, it was… magical." Not just because of the lights themselves, but because Cas had made them for him; because they'd that moment together, watching them.

"Anna made them," Cas said wistfully. At Dean's confused silence, he continued: "I don't mean the ones today. She _created_ the auroras. God created the Earth and its inhabitants, but he allowed us – the angels – to help make the Earth beautiful for the humans."

Sometimes Dean forgot how old Cas was. He couldn't wrap his head around it, Cas being around when Earth was created. Cas, his best friend who didn't quite understand social cues. Cas, who loved Netflix and small animals and cheeseburgers. Cas, whom Dean would do anything in the world for – and who had done anything and everything he could for Dean. He was older than the Earth itself, and had been more powerful than anything Dean could ever imagine. Even with reduced powers, he was… so much more than any human. So much more than Dean. It made him feel small.

"Shit."

Cas turned to him, and even though it was too dark to see Cas's face properly, Dean could clearly imagine the questioning look that must be on it. 

"That's… that's what you are, Cas. You're… I keep thinking of you as if you were human, but you're… I mean, we should be like frickin' ants to you."

Cas laid a hand on Dean's forearm, squeezing it gently. "No. You're everything to me."

Dean's breath caught in his throat. He couldn't help but wonder about the "you"; was it plural or… singular? He didn't mean _all_ humans, Dean was pretty sure of that.

Dean didn't have to wonder about it long before Cas answered it, voice soft between them.

"You're the one who has showed me everything that has ever mattered to me, Dean. The time I have known you may be short compared to the rest of my existence, but it doesn't feel that way. It feels like this – the time I have spent in your presence – is the only time I have truly lived. The rest of my existence pales in comparison."

Dean felt breathless. That was one hell of a declaration. "Shit, Cas." His eyes felt moist at the corners, but he wasn't gonna wipe at them and give himself away. He wanted to say something back of the same magnitude, but he couldn't without saying things he wasn't quite ready to say yet. Instead, he simply stayed quiet, letting Cas hold onto his arm, and it seemed good enough for Cas, having removed Dean's insecurities about being lesser than him.

"So, uh," Dean said eventually. He cleared his throat, which had gone conspicuously hoarse. "So Anna made the auroras, huh? Did you make anything?"

Dean could just barely make out Cas's gentle smile in the darkness. 

"Green."

Dean wasn't sure he'd heard correctly. "Sorry, what?"

Cas chuckled softly. "Some of us wanted to make the Earth colourful for humans. I created green."

"So… if it wasn't for you guys, the world would be, what, black and white?"

Cas smiled. "Essentially."

"And if it wasn't for you specifically, all the grass and trees and shit would be colourless? So the Christmas tree in the living room…?"

"Would be grey, yes."

Dean tried to picture it; tried to picture a world without colour. The images his mind came up with seemed bleak, depressing. What would the world be like without green? How much of nature wouldn't be dull and grey?

"Technically," Cas added, "I also took part in creating the rainbow."

"'Cause you created green, right?"

Cas shook his head. "No. Some of the angels who created colours wanted to create something more for the humans. So we put our colours together and made rainbows, just like Anna made the aurora."

When Dean was once again filled with awe, it wasn't at the expense of his own self-worth. Not only did Cas paint enormous parts of the world with colour, but… "Shit. _You_ made rainbows?"

"Not alone. But yes. I had an affinity for humans, and wanted to give them something beautiful."

"So you decided to join up with some other angels and give us rainbows as a baptism gift?"

Cas's hand was still on Dean's arm, a warm, welcome presence. "Something like that."

Dean hummed, feeling his heart swell just a tiny bit more with emotion for this ancient being who thought humans deserved rainbows. "So… you created the thing that, um." Dean faltered, uncertain which word he should use, but… he was out now. He didn't have to pretend that he didn't know the term. "That LGBTQ people use as their—" Dean paused, realising maybe for the first time that he was allowed to consider himself part of that community. _Was_ a part of that community. It wasn't like he hadn't known he wasn't straight, but he'd never considered that it meant he was part of a group. That there were people out there who had struggled with the same things he had, and that he was allowed to identify himself with them. He'd always felt that the pride flag was for all those other people, not for him, but now – especially knowing Cas had had a part in creating rainbows to begin with— "As _our_ symbol."

"Yes." Cas smiled. "It has come to symbolise many positive things. It feels especially fitting to me that one of the things it symbolises is… love, in all its forms."

"You saying that you have a lot of love to give, Cas?" Saying the words out loud in the silence of the room made Dean's entire body flush with warmth all at once. It was like being on a roller coaster and hurtling down a vertical drop – exhilarating and scary at the same time.

Cas looked thoughtful and far calmer than Dean felt, and holding his gaze while waiting for his answer was nerve-racking, yet Dean couldn't look away even if he tried.

"Maybe I do." Cas squeezed his hand. It was enough to assuage the worst of Dean's worries that maybe he'd been wrong about the signals Cas had been sending him, but it did nothing to calm his beating heart. He squeezed back, however, and although there was no chance that sleep would come for quite a while yet, he closed his eyes as he made himself more comfortable, inching a tiny bit closer to Cas.


	3. Chapter 3

Dean woke up before Cas, as usual; the angel didn't need as much sleep as Dean did, but he usually stayed awake long after Dean, and then he woke up later. 

They'd rolled closer to each other sometime during the night, and one of Dean's hands was resting on Cas's side, just above his hip. Cas was turned toward him, and he could feel soft puffs of breath on his skin. He'd seen Cas sleep before, but seeing him up close like this was different. He looked so human. But more importantly, he looked… peaceful.

Dean would have taken the opportunity to stay in bed longer if it wasn't for his bladder protesting, and he regretfully moved his hand away from Cas, careful not to wake him. Maybe he could come back to bed again afterwards, if Cas wasn't up by then.

Dean put on his pajama pants – he only ever wore them out of bed – and a T-shirt, and closed the bedroom door quietly behind him. He could see that the light was on in the kitchen, which meant that Sam or Eileen was awake, but the kids seemed to be still asleep somehow. He went to the bathroom and quickly relieved himself.

Eileen stuck her head out of the kitchen when he was on his way back to the bedroom, and he changed directions. There was no need to be rude; he saw Cas every day, but he only saw Eileen a few times a year. Just because things hadn't started happening between them until now, that didn't mean he was going to ignore his host in favour of Cas. Especially not such a wonderful woman as Eileen. Dean sometimes wondered if Sam knew just how lucky he was. He probably did; he'd have to be blind not to.

"Good morning, Dean." Eileen signed along with her spoken words. In the beginning, she hadn't signed when she spoke to Dean alone, but he'd asked her to so he could learn.

"Good morning," he signed back.

Eileen smiled. "Coffee's almost done. I'll share with you if you wait with me. It should only take a couple of minutes." She leaned her hip against the kitchen bench, and Dean did the same thing, facing her.

"Sure thing."

"So…" she said with a knowing smile. "Slept well?" Her expression was more fond than sly, but her meaning was still clear. She knew about the bed. She must have known what her kids were up to yesterday, before she and Sam even left the house. Dean wondered if he should worry about his brother and his sister-in-law being okay with their kids' nefarious plans.

"Like a baby," Dean answered truthfully, because he knew she wasn't trying to make fun of him.

"I noticed that the sheets from your beds were still in the same place the kids put them yesterday. I would have thought you would have gone looking for them." She gave him a meaningful look.

Dean shrugged, and he could feel the tips of his ears going pink. "Yeah, well. It's not like we'll get cooties from sharing a bed."

Eileen laughed, and then the playful look on her face turned into a soft smile. "So… is there anything going on between you two?"

Dean could deny it; technically, nothing had really _happened_ so far. They hadn't kissed; they hadn't admitted any feelings out loud. And yet… things were happening, weren't they? He was pretty sure they were. And he couldn't help the giddy jump his heart made at the thought of that.

"I think so." He tried to fight back a smile, but he knew he was unsuccessful when he saw Eileen return it, her eyes filled with warmth. 

The coffee stopped dripping into the pot, and Dean poured them a mug of coffee each, trying to ignore Eileen's knowing gaze on him.

"Unless I'm completely delusional," he continued as they took their mugs and started heading out of the kitchen. "But… I'd like for something to be going on between us," he admitted, face going pink as he finally said that particular embarrassing fact out loud to someone for the first time. Someone who couldn't hear it, but still. It counted. She understood him. "And I'm starting to feel pretty sure I'm _not_ delusional."

"Who's delusional?"

Dean's head whipped to the side; sometimes, Cas could still sneak up on him as silently as when he'd still had his wings.

"Me," Dean answered quickly, before he had the time to think about what he was saying. "I mean, I'm not. Maybe. I… Why are you awake already? You never wake up this early."

If Cas noticed Dean's nervousness, he didn't show it. Instead, he walked over to where Dean was standing. Dean didn't realise he was standing underneath the mistletoe until all of a sudden Cas was close enough for Dean's breath to hitch in his chest, and then there were soft lips on his cheek. 

"I woke up because you were gone." 

Dean flushed with warmth, both at the kiss and Cas's words. Cas had never had trouble sleeping after Dean had left the room before. The fact that he did so now had Dean's heart beating faster, but he was too aware of Eileen's gaze on them and her grin to manage a reply.

"Coffee?" He pushed his own mug at Cas, who accepted it, their fingers brushing together, before he went back inside the kitchen to pour himself a new mug.

It didn't take long for the kids to wake up – nor Sam, when they began shouting with glee after running into the guest room to see if the beds were still as they had arranged them yesterday.

By the time Sam was standing in the living room, everyone in the house knew that Dean and Cas had slept together in the same bed last night.

*** 

Dean and Sam were on their way back from the grocery store when Dean saw the guy. There was nothing remarkable about the man himself, but next to him, in front of a white house, was a "for sale" sign, another sign that said FULLY FURNISHED, and he was putting up a third sign that said CHEAP.

Dean couldn't help it; he had to know, despite the questioning look Sam gave him when he pulled into the dude's driveway and opened his window so he could talk to him. The guy stopped what he was doing when he saw the car.

"How cheap are we talking?" Dean asked, earning him another look from Sam that – although he couldn't actually see it since he was talking to the guy – he could feel practically burning a hole in his skull.

"At this point, I'll consider basically any offer," the guy said, which didn't exactly bode well for the state of the house – although from the outside, it seemed to be in pretty good shape. Nothing too old or dilapidated, but of course the inside might be a different story altogether.

"D'you think I could take a look inside?"

The guy agreed, but he refused to go in with Dean and Sam. Dean didn't know if he should expect rotting floorboards that they might fall through, but when they opened the door and went inside, it looked… fine. Good, even. It seemed newer – or at least more recently renovated – than Dean had expected. There was no reason that he could see that the guy would have to sell the house cheap.

"Dean, do you mind telling me why we're looking at a house for sale?" Sam finally asked now that they were alone.

Right. Dean hadn't mentioned that to him.

"Uh, yeah, so." He scratched his neck as they walked through the hall and began going up the stairs, looking at the walls, the floors, anything that might look damaged in any way. "Cas and I were talking about maybe… retiring. Finding someplace else to live. Somewhere around here, maybe, so we can be close to you guys. Unless you'd rather only have us in small doses throughout the year."

Sam's face was one of astonishment. "Dean, are you kidding me?" Then he lit up in a smile. "We'd love that. The kids would be ecstatic to have you here, and Eileen and I wouldn't have to worry about you guys."

"You worry about us?" This was news to Dean. Sam and Eileen had always respected Cas and Dean's decision to keep hunting; they'd told them to be careful, but they'd never said they worried about them. Probably so Dean and Cas wouldn't feel bad about continuing hunting while Sam and Eileen settled down.

"Of course we do, Dean. Since when have you and I never worried about each other when the other one might be in danger?"

Well. Fair point – one Dean only grunted in response to before he changed the subject. "I wonder what the hell's wrong with this house since he's so desperate to get rid of it. Looks fine to me," he said as they looked into the upstairs bathroom. It had a large shower, a nice bathtub, and the grout between the tiles looked absolutely fine.

Sam wasn't ready to let go of the subject, however. "So… you guys are talking about moving somewhere? Together?"

"Yup." Dean knew Sam was fishing for more, but Dean wasn't going to give him that right now. Not when he and Cas hadn't talked about what they were now, or even kissed properly yet. "Hey, you think there might be black mold here somewhere? We should go check out the basement."

They were on their way down the stairs to the ground floor when they realised what the problem with the house was, as Dean suddenly tumbled forward, pushed by a screeching poltergeist.

"Dean! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I saw a fireplace downstairs, go look for iron!"

In the time it took Dean to get back to his feet, Sam had just grabbed a fire poker and swung it at the poltergeist right when it tried to come for him, and it disappeared.

Sam ran over to Dean, poker at the ready in case the ghost returned. With nothing else to fight the poltergeist with, however, there was no point in staying in the house longer than they had to, and they ran out of the house just as the poltergeist made a chair come flying at them.

The owner of the house looked nervous when they came back out.

"Well? Nice house, right?" he asked as if the fact that they'd come running out of the house with a damn fire poker didn't imply that they'd met the poltergeist.

"You said you'd consider any offer?" Dean asked.

It turned out the guy hadn't been quite truthful when he'd said _any_ offer, despite the angry poltergeist in his house, and even after some haggling it took an offer of two thirds of Dean's money – which of course wasn't really his in the first place – to get the guy to agree to sell him the house. Dean hoped Cas had been serious about wanting to move to Vermont with him. This was a better deal than they'd get on a house ever again – maybe the only deal they'd ever be able to afford – and Dean really wanted that future with Cas; to live here in peace without having to worry about hunting.

First, of course, there was a poltergeist to get rid of, but there was no reason it couldn't stay there until the deed had been signed, which they agreed to do in a few days. After all, Dean wouldn't want the guy to discover that the ghost was gone and renege on their deal.

*** 

It was Dean and Cas who made dinner on Christmas Eve while they waited for Sam, Eileen and the kids to come back from the skating rink. Dean may be fond of knives, but he didn't like to wear them on his feet and try to propel himself forward on them. Cas was no skating talent either, as they'd discovered a few winters prior, and so they were happy to stay at home and prepare lasagna for when the others returned. 

They worked well together; they'd had years of practice in the Bunker. As always, out of the two of them, it was Dean who was in charge of dinner. Dessert, however, was something Cas had – somewhat surprisingly – turned out to excel at in the kitchen. He had mastered the art of pie especially, to Dean's great joy, which was why he was in charge of the apple pie today.

Dean wasn't sure if he imagined it or not, but they seemed to brush against each other more often than they usually did when cooking together, even though there was really no reason for it; the kitchen was more than big enough for both of them.

Dean couldn't help but look up at the mistletoe every now and then, thinking about what it might be like to catch Cas under the mistletoe and kiss him, or maybe more realistically, to just give him a peck on the cheek like Cas had done to him (because Dean was kind of a coward that way). But Cas was never underneath it, so it didn't matter anyway.

The rest of the family came back shortly before the food was ready, and Dean got help from the kids to set the table in the dining room while Sam and Eileen went to do some laundry. When Dean felt like everything was on the table, he thanked the kids for helping him and told them they could go get their parents, and then he called to Cas in the kitchen to ask if he was missing something.

"Yes, you forgot something in here," Cas called back, and Dean went back, wondering what he'd forgotten to bring. He was met in the doorway by Cas, and… oh, Cas wasn't holding anything for Dean to bring back out with him, or even letting Dean past him into the kitchen. But he was standing close to Dean, and getting closer, a happy smile on his face as he tilted his face to the side as he came closer still. Dean's heart started beating like crazy, and his eyelashes fluttered like he was in a damn Disney movie while his body decided it would be a great idea to lean closer to Cas. He was happy no one was in the dining room at the moment to see, because he was pretty sure Cas was going to— That they were about to have their first—

Cas's hand came up to cup Dean's cheek, and when he spoke, they were close enough that their lips brushed together, just barely. "You forgot this."

Then Cas's lips were on Dean's, and Dean forgot all about dinner. He felt breathless and dazed, but once the kiss ended, his lips pulled into a smile that didn't disappear even when he heard the kids and their parents come into the dining room, or throughout dinner. Cas looked just as happy, their smiles widening another fraction whenever they looked at each other. Sam and Eileen kept sending them knowing looks, but Dean didn't even care that they knew how gone he was on Cas. All that mattered was that Cas felt the same way.

That night, in bed, Dean gave Cas a good night kiss. There was a short, scary moment when he felt like maybe this still wasn't something he was allowed to do, like he'd imagined everything that had happened between them up until now, but then Cas melted against him and his worries vanished. He didn't notice falling asleep, but he slept soundly all through the night.


	4. Chapter 4

Dean woke up again on Christmas morning with Cas's body molded against his back, skin touching skin and their feet tangled together. He smiled and pushed back against Cas's body while tugging Cas's arm more firmly around him, which caused Cas to stir, nosing against Dean's hair and embracing him sleepily for a moment before suddenly going rigid and pushing himself away.

Dean turned around, worried. "What's wrong?"

This time, it was Cas who blushed. "I… have a situation. A 'boner', I believe you would say."

Dean snorted softly. Thank God. If the reason for Cas freaking out about touching him wasn't any worse than that, then he didn't have anything to worry about. "Dude, it happens, don't worry about it. I'm not scared of your dick." 

The blush hadn't receded from Cas's face, but he covered up his embarrassment with a smug expression. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah. Really." Dean felt giddy at the fact that they hadn't even kissed on the lips until yesterday, and now they were joking about sex. "You perv."

"I believe you're the pervert," Cas murmured with a smile. "You're the one who apparently wants to feel my erect penis."

"Shut up." Dean put his hand on Cas's neck and then shut him up himself as he pulled him in for a gentle kiss.

"Merry Christmas, Dean," Cas said against his lips, and Dean hummed into the kiss.

"Guess I must have been good this year," he said, breaking apart.

"You're always good, Dean. You're the best person I know." Dean would have felt embarrassed, but instead it felt like his heart was about to overflow, and his body responded in return as he tried to pull Cas closer to himself.

Cas allowed him to do it, rolling on top of Dean. He hesitated a bit before lowering his body, and Dean realised why when he felt it. Cas hadn't been kidding about the boner, and it punched a breath out of Dean, feeling it through two layers of fabric, nestled on the inside of his hip.

He didn't mean to turn their next kiss more heated, but he did it anyway – or maybe it was Cas who did. Their tongues met and before long, heat started gathering in Dean's gut, and what had started as a soft, mellow make-out session soon became something more, both of them growing needy. Dean had felt this way about Cas for too long; he didn't want to hold back anymore. A desperate moan tumbled out from his lips, and Cas's hips dipped down – involuntarily, perhaps, like Dean's own hips pushing up against him in response.

There was no conscious decision to start their slow thrusts against each other; if Dean were going to pick the perfect time and place for their first time, he wouldn't have picked here and now, but their bodies moved on instinct, craving stimulation as they held each other close. Cas groaned in Dean's ear, and the low sound went straight to Dean's cock. He reached for their underwear, grappling with the waistbands until Cas had lifted his hips away for a moment and then pulling them down to their thighs.

Cas was back on him almost immediately, and Dean tried to stifle his moan at finally feeling Cas's hardness without anything separating them. The drag of their cocks against each other's bodies was partly slicked by sweat and the fluids they were leaking, and Cas took up it up a notch, pressing himself more firmly against Dean's abdomen and dragging his cock up slowly, drawing pleasure out of them both.

Dean's world became reduced to the shaky, stuttered breaths Cas had to break their kisses to release, the occasional helpless moan from either of them and the building pleasure that coursed through him. It was as if he and Cas were the only two people in existence.

Which meant that naturally, he'd forgotten to pay attention to the sounds outside the room, and apparently Cas had too, because the door was pushed wide open and they sprang apart, clutching the blankets to their bodies as the kids came in. Of course. It was fucking _Christmas Day,_ which was possibly the worst day they could have done this, at least when they were in a house with children.

All thoughts of Santa and presents seemed to be instantly forgotten, however. "You were kissing!" Charlie exclaimed triumphantly, and she and Bobby started jumping with joy – literally – around the room as they repeated Charlie's words over and over again. Dean was painfully aware of the state of both him and Cas underneath the blankets, and when the kids started climbing up onto the bed, he panicked. It wouldn't normally be a problem, but now…

"Sammy! You out there?" he called. He hoped Sam was. It would be humiliating to have him come in here and see them like this, sure, but at least it would be better than this.

"Uh, sweetie, you can't come up here right now," he said to the girl, trying to maneuver Charlie out of the bed without the blankets slipping too far down while Cas was doing the same thing with Bobby on his side.

"Here!" Sam said, appearing in the doorway.

"They were kissing!" Bobby shouted to his father, jabbing a finger at Cas's mouth that he had to dodge.

Sam took in the scene in front of him – Dean and Cas with identical blushes, desperately trying to keep the kids from climbing on top of them – and his mouth fell open.

"Little help here?" Dean asked. "They can't – they – we, um."

Sam stared for a little while longer, and then he gave an ugly snort as he burst into laughter. "Yeah, I get the picture. No details needed. Come on, guys," he said, beginning to herd the kids out of the room. "Let's give Uncle Dean and Uncle Cas some privacy."

"But not too long," Charlie told them sternly, looking over her shoulder. "Santa's been here! You have to come out so we can open our presents!"

When Sam closed the door behind them, giggling like a loon, Dean flopped back on the bed and hid his face – which felt like it was on fire – in his hands. "Fuuuck." He didn't think he'd ever been more embarrassed in his life. His dick had definitely gone down by now; for all he knew, maybe it had even shrunk a couple of inches in pure mortification.

"Yes," Cas said. "I hope you're not inclined to continue our activities right now, because I'm not sure I can after that."

"You kidding me?" Dean asked, glancing over at Cas, whose face was still pink. "I'll be lucky if I ever get into the mood again." He groaned and rolled over, pressing his face against the soft skin of Cas's throat, wanting to at least get one kind of intimacy even though the other kind was out the window right now.

Cas laughed quietly, just a short huff of breath. "I hope you will. I want to do that again sometime. It was nice." He paused for a moment, and then: "Although it would have been nicer if it could have lasted a little while longer."

Dean laughed despite himself; his emotions seemed to be doing some kind of weird ping-pong back and forth, and he was suddenly overwhelmed with happiness that they'd finally gotten here. That Cas wanted this to happen again. That he'd probably get to spend every night from now on – and some days – like this, in Cas's embrace. "Yeah. I think we can manage that."

***

The kids were waiting in front of the Christmas tree, a present each on their lap when Dean and Cas came out of their room, and Sam and Eileen were there too. Dean guessed that Eileen knew already; there was a glint in her eye as she greeted them that gave away her amusement, but mostly she just looked happy. Happy for them. Dean appreciated it, and he hoped it showed in his own expression.

Bobby released his hold on the present in his hands to sign. "Can we open the presents now? Pretty please?" The kids got the go-ahead, and then they were tearing off paper left and right as they opened their presents.

The toys were more appreciated than the clothes, of course, which was just how it should be, in Dean's opinion. Kids should be so used to always having enough clothes that fit and weren't old and worn out that they didn't _have to_ appreciate getting new ones. Dean and Sam had known what it was like to really appreciate getting new clothes – often from Bobby – and it wasn't because the clothes were so awesome.

And, of course, kids should know what it was like to actually be kids and get to play with toys. 

Dean and Cas always got them both clothes _and_ toys.

The grown-ups waited to open their gifts until after the kids had opened all of theirs and were playing with them on the floor. Dean and Sam no longer followed their tradition of crappy gas station presents, now that Sam was married to Eileen and Dean was… well. Things had only started happening between him and Cas the last few days, but they'd been giving presents and receiving presents together for years now. Dean wondered just when they'd started acting like they were married, and smiled at the thought that maybe they'd kinda-sorta been a couple for ages already, and they just didn't know.

They got two gift card tickets for an art museum and two for a movie theatre from Sam and Eileen, and the gift they'd gotten for them in return was a gift certificate for the spa Sam always denied that he ever went to together with Eileen, but Dean totally knew he did. Eileen may or may not have told him and Cas about one of their spa trips one time.

The gift he got from Cas was a Blue Öyster Cult vinyl he didn't already have and a new robe; Dean's Dead Guy Robe was old and starting to come apart at the seams. He'd been planning on fixing it, but knowing their lives, he probably would never have gotten around to it. And he liked this one. It resembled the old one a bit, but it was a grey plaid and a bit softer.

Presents weren't the most important part of Christmas for Dean, but this was a pretty awesome and personal one, and it made Dean slightly nervous about Cas opening the gift from him: A Buffy box set (because he knew Cas loved watching the reruns despite his bitching about inaccurate portrayals of monsters) and a mug. 

The mug was really only a replacement for one that Dean had broken in the first place, so it wasn't much of a Christmas gift. The old one had been Cas's favourite because of how the lip of the mug felt, and while Dean hadn't been able to find the exact same mug, he'd found out which company had produced it, and they had several other mugs with the same shape. He'd picked one that had a drawing of a bee and said "Queen Bee" – he'd thought it was funny at the time, especially considering the time Cas had been covered in bees as well as the fact that Cas wasn't really a dude – but now he worried that maybe it was too flippant, and he could feel his hands sweating as Cas opened it. Even though it was just _Cas_ , who knew him like no one else did except Sam – who had seen every childish and asinine side of him, and was still apparently attracted to him somehow.

It turned out he needn't have worried, because Cas grinned when he saw the gift, eyes crinkled and gums showing, and Dean was struck by how lucky he was that this amazing creature – this angel – wanted to be with _him_.

And maybe Cas could see in Dean's eyes the emotion he was filled with, because he leaned in and placed a soft kiss on Dean's cheek that Dean turned into, meeting Cas's lips briefly with his own despite their audience and the inevitable cheers from the children (as well as the questions about whether they were boyfriends now that Dean deflected but had a feeling Cas had been about to say yes to).

When Dean fell asleep that night, it was with a full belly, a full heart and Cas's arms around him.

*** 

Dean knew why he and Sam had had to come up with an excuse for leaving the house earlier in the day, namely a certain poltergeist (which had now been ganked) and a certain deed (that had now been signed). What he didn't understand was why Eileen and Sam had made up an excuse to send him and Cas off to the store now; it wasn't as if they were running out of food, toilet paper or anything else essential, and Sam had been looking pretty shifty-eyed when he'd asked them if they could take his car and go. Besides, it was kinda messing up Dean's plan to show Cas the house right away.

The mystery became even more… well, mysterious, when they came home and saw that Eileen's car was gone. They locked themselves into the house, and… everyone was gone.

"The hell?"

Dean looked around for an explanation; Cas was the one who found it. There was a note on the living room table, in Eileen's handwriting.

_We felt bad about the children interrupting you yesterday morning. They're staying at a friend's house tonight, and Sam and I won't be back until midnight. Do whatever you want with your time alone. Have a romantic evening!_

Underneath it, Sam had scrawled:  
_But do your own laundry if you make a mess of our sheets_

Dean huffed a nervous laugh, glancing at Cas. It was one thing for a make-out session between them to turn hot and heavy, but having his brother and sister-in-law plan for them to have sex in their house was… a bit weird, although he actually kind of appreciated the thought; it wasn't as if they were likely to try again while the kids were in the house.

"I wouldn't mind a romantic evening alone with you," Cas said, not commenting on the fact that Sam and Eileen obviously wanted to give them an opportunity to have sex, which helped.

Dean cleared his throat. Showing Cas the house could wait until tomorrow, he supposed. "Uh, yeah. No. Me neither."

"Is there anything specific you want to do?" 

From anyone else, Dean might have interpreted it as a suggestive question, but Cas meant it genuinely, and a fondness for him rose in Dean's chest. "I don't know. Go outside, maybe?" He stepped closer and put his hands on Cas's shoulders, just wanting to touch him now that he was finally allowed. "We could make snow angels," he suggested teasingly.

Cas touched him back, gentle hands on Dean's hips as Cas pulled him close and hooked his chin over Dean's shoulder. "We could. Or maybe you would prefer a rematch of the snowball fight? Just the two of us?"

Dean laughed, delighted as always at the way Cas engaged in banter with him, and he wondered if Cas could tell just how smitten he was. "No way, dude. You're a dirty cheater."

"Who are you calling dirty?" Cas smiled, and this time there was just a hint of suggestiveness to it, Cas swiping his thumbs down just inside Dean's hipbones. He didn't cross the line of what Dean was comfortable with, however – not that he usually had any problem with suggestiveness, but he'd come out of the closet mere _days_ ago, and here he was in an on-its-way-to-becoming-a-relationship with Cas. And yeah, they'd kinda done something sexual together already, but that had almost been more of an accident than anything. Not that it had been insignificant; far from it, it was just that he hadn't had to think about it, he had just done it. That had made it easier.

Dean caught Cas's lips with his own, surprising him, but Cas quickly smiled into the kiss.

"So," Dean said when they broke apart. "Snow angels?"

*** 

They did, in fact, make snow angels, but that only lasted until Cas decided to roll over into Dean's angel, tucking himself against Dean's side. "I'm not particularly fond of angels," he said by way of explanation. "I much prefer you."

It was sappy enough that Dean decided not to complain about his ruined snow angel like he was going to, and when Cas demonstrated his words with a kiss, Dean forgot about any reason he thought he might have had to complain.

Until he remembered that he still hadn't gotten Cas back for the snowball fight.

Getting a hand – that just so happened to be filled with snow – underneath Cas's jacket and inner layers was easy; he probably thought Dean just wanted to touch him. He yelped the moment he felt the cold snow against his skin, a sign that he had spent more grace on creating the aurora for Dean than he'd been willing to admit, which served to both level the playing field and piss Dean off. The element of surprise allowed Dean to roll Cas onto his back and stuff more snow underneath his clothes, and maybe Cas allowed Dean to stay in control a while longer than he would have been able to on his own before he flipped them over again.

Dean did not shriek – he never shrieked, thank you very much – when a handful of snow was thrust underneath his clothes with enough force that it went all the way up to his chest. 

"Ugh. Fuck you." He squirmed, but even though Cas's grace was even more depleted than usual, the angel was still a bit stronger than him. Instead of trying to push Cas off him, he pulled him down and rolled to the side, and amazingly, he managed to end up on top again.

Knowing that he probably wouldn't be able to do that again, he grabbed a large handful of snow and decided to make this one count; he pulled at the waistband of Cas's pants and shoved the snow down there. It didn't go underneath Cas's boxers, but Dean still couldn't imagine that it would be anything resembling comfortable. And if Cas's reaction was anything to go by, it wasn't; he groaned and flailed for a moment, and then Dean was on his back before he knew it, his breath knocked out of him. Cas was on top of him with his eyes closed as if trying to will the cold away. Maybe he did try, but didn't have enough grace for it, or maybe he wanted to make this fair for Dean, who had no say over his body temperature.

Both of them were breathing heavily, but it was exhilarating and – despite the cold – fun to play around in the snow like this, and Dean didn't want to go inside quite yet even though the melted snow was soaking into his clothes, making him wet and cold. He could only imagine what it was like for Cas, but when he pulled at Cas's shoulder, Cas went willingly and met his lips in a kiss.

Dean hadn't expected that it would be possible to lose track of time while lying outside in the snow, cold and damp, but when his teeth began to chatter after making out for what had clearly been way too long, he realised it was entirely possible. "Shit."

He didn't have to pull Cas off him; Cas was already moving, getting to his feet and offering Dean a hand up. "We should go inside." Cas was shivering, too, so he'd clearly used up too much of his juice to do anything about it.

Once inside, they decided to use the shower in turns to get warmed up, and Cas insisted that Dean go first. When Dean came out of the shower, however, warm again and with a towel around his waist, he realised he didn't know what to do now; what Cas might want to do after his shower.

"Hey, um," he said as Cas was about to make his way to the bathroom. "Afterwards, what do you want to—I mean, should I get dressed, or…?" He trailed off, fighting a blush.

Cas's gaze trailed down Dean's chest, down to the towel, but there was still understanding rather than heat in his voice when he spoke. "I'll leave that up to you, Dean. It would make me very happy to bring you pleasure once I've showered, but only if you want to."

Dean nodded. "Okay. So, uh… I'll leave it a surprise then?" It wasn't going to be a particularly great surprise if he was dressed when Cas came back, but he needed to think about it for a minute.

He lay down on their bed while Cas was in the shower, debating whether or not he should get dressed. Soon enough, the debate turned more into a daydream about what might happen if he didn't, and by the time Cas stepped into the room in a towel of his own, he was still lying on the bed. So. Decision made.

He didn't notice until he heard Cas's deep, velvety "oh" and the way his eyes darkened when he looked at Dean, that his towel was tented – not fully quite yet, but enough that in a few moments, the loose flaps of the towel would give way and fall down, exposing him. Just the thought of it made his dick jump, considerably shortening the amount of time it would take before it happened.

"Dean." Cas looked spellbound, his eyes fixed on Dean as he walked over to him and sat down on the side of the bed. He reached out, a hand almost touching the skin of Dean's belly when he paused, eyes meeting Dean's again. "May I?"

Dean wasn't sure if he was breathing or not, but he nodded, and at the first touch of Cas's hand on him, Dean's cock jumped again and the towel fell and bunched at the root of it, revealing him before Cas's eyes. Cas didn't touch his cock, however, instead loosening the towel and pulling the ends to each side, exposing all of Dean completely.

It was far from the first time Dean had been naked in the company of someone else, but he'd never before _felt_ so naked as he did now. No one had ever looked at him the way Cas did; no one had ever made him feel like they could see all of him, inside and out. Until now.

Cas had grown hard as well, Dean noticed, and he wanted more than anything right now for Cas to be naked too. "You too," he said. "I want to touch you, Cas."

Cas, it seemed, had no trouble with baring his flesh, easily discarding the towel before he lay down next to Dean and kissed him, slow and intoxicating. Dean skimmed his fingertips over Cas's side when the kiss ended, and smiled at the goosebumps it drew from Cas.

They were rubbing against each other again, slower this time, but Dean wanted something else. He stilled their movements with a hand on Cas's hip and then let it travel between their bodies in search of its destination.

Cas moaned when Dean closed his hand around his cock. He'd never done this before, not to anyone but himself, but he enjoyed the way Cas reacted; the way he pushed himself into Dean's grip and tightened his fingers around Dean's arm.

Cas let him continue for a while as they kissed, but then he moved Dean's hand out of the way and took them both in hand. Dean gasped at the feeling of both of them sliding in and out of Cas's fist together, his fingers tight around them. There were other things he wanted to try with Cas, eventually, but right now he didn't need more than this. There'd be more than enough time for more in the future – maybe even before Sam and Eileen came back tonight, if Cas was interested.

"I love you," Cas moaned when Dean put a hand of his own around Cas's. "You knew that already, but I do." 

Dean did know; it wasn't the first time Cas had said it, but it was the first time Dean knew exactly what he meant by it, and the words brought him closer to the edge. He had only said those words once, himself – to Cassie – and he'd gained a greater understanding of what love was since then. What it meant to love someone so much you'd be willing to sacrifice your own life for them. So when he gasped "Love you too" close to Cas's ear now, it meant so much more than it ever had back then. It meant damn near everything.

The words had an impact on Cas, and if his choked moan was any indication he wasn't going to last long, but then neither was Dean. He was close already, subconsciously tightening his fist around Cas's, and Cas responded in turn by speeding up.

"Shit, Cas. You close?" Dean tried to hold on. He wanted to share the moment with Cas, but it was hard not to let go.

"Yes," Cas breathed. "I think I'm… almost…" His voice seemed even deeper than usual, and the vibrations of it in Dean's ear had him unable to hold on any longer; he went tumbling over the edge, slicking Cas's hand with his spend. Cas followed him shortly after, and although Dean always thought he looked good, he looked especially beautiful like this, mouth slack and eyes closed as pleasure overtook him. And right after was equally gorgeous, his eyes opening again to look at Dean with total adoration, a happy, sated smile on his face. "That was amazing," he all but giggled, snuggling up to Dean.

"Yeah," Dean agreed, tired for the moment, but not too tired to start looking forward to the next time already. He checked his watch. "Round two before Sam and Eileen come back? We have two more hours, and I wanna try giving you a blowjob."

It turned out there was time for both a round two _and_ a round three (apparently, getting together with the person you'd been pining for for years did wonders for your stamina and refractory period), and by the time Sam and Eileen entered the house around midnight, they'd showered again and gotten back into bed, arms wrapped around each other as they slept soundly.

***

"Hey. Cas." Dean put a hand on the back of Cas's neck, playing gently with the short hairs there. He didn't usually wake Cas up when they weren't on a case, but he was excited – and a tiny bit nervous – for today, and he'd been listening to the sounds of Sam and Eileen puttering about the house for the better part of an hour already, waiting for Cas to wake up on his own.

"Mmm," Cas croaked, blinking his eyes open, wrapping his limbs around Dean like an octopus and pulling him in. "Can I wake up like this every day?"

Despite how casually the words were said, the implied promise in them made Dean's breath catch. "Yeah," he said, emotion bleeding through in the word. "Every goddamn day, Cas." Then he was pulled into a long, slow kiss that that lasted several minutes. Eventually, however, he pulled away reluctantly.

"We should get up."

"Do we have to?" Cas asked, mouth planting itself on Dean's jaw now that Dean's own lips weren't covering it. 

As happy as it made Dean to hear Cas express a wish to stay in bed longer together – as much as he wanted to – he also couldn't wait to show him the house. "I have something to show you. A surprise."

That seemed to pique Cas's curiosity; his lips stopped in their path on their way back to Dean's mouth again. "What is it?"

"I can't tell you," Dean laughed. "I told you, it's a surprise. Now come on, let's get up and have some breakfast before we go."

"Go? Go where?" Cas asked, but Dean didn't reply; he just smiled and started putting on clothes.

*** 

Sam and Eileen were tactful enough not to ask what they'd done last night, but Dean still stuttered out a thank you for having given them a night to themselves. His blush probably told them everything they needed to know, and even if it didn't, Cas's hand casually patting his ass as he walked past Dean to get coffee certainly did. Sam laughed, apparently delighted at this new development in Dean's sex life – or more likely, Dean supposed, his love life, and despite his embarrassment, it warmed him to know that he and Cas had nothing but full support from Sam. And his entire family, as they had proved to him multiple times by now.

"Hey, uh. When are you guys picking up the kids? I was going to show Cas the, uh – the thing." He lowered his voice as if Cas could glean what the "thing" was if he didn't, sending Sam a significant look. He only realised Sam hadn't told Eileen about it yet when she looked confused. "A surprise for Cas," he clarified for her sake. "And you and the kids too, kinda. But…" He met Cas's eyes over the mug of coffee Cas was holding up to his lips. "Mostly Cas."

They all ended up going together in Sam's seven-seater, picking up the kids on the way and then driving to where the house was, pulling up in the driveway. The "for sale" signs were gone; they'd removed them after they'd sent the poltergeist to the other side.

"Cas. Come with me." Dean took Cas's hand and opened the car door. "We'll come and get you guys afterwards, I just… need to show Cas first," he said to the rest of them.

He wondered if Cas noticed that his hand was clammy as he pulled him with him up to the house; despite everything, he was still nervous about this. Not because he wasn't sure about Cas's feelings about him, but because… well, stuff like this was always kinda nerve-racking, wasn't it? Like asking someone to marry you. This wasn't that far off, he supposed. After all, he was asking Cas to settle down with him forever.

Dean fumbled with the key under Cas's curious gaze, and wondered if Cas suspected something. After all, why would Dean have the key to a random home in semirural Vermont? He held the door open for Cas, gesturing for him to go in first. Into their – hopefully – new home.

"Dean…" Cas said when Dean didn't lead him further into the house or tell him where to go. "Why are we here? What is it you want to show me?"

 _Here we go._ Dean swallowed, stuffing his hands in his pockets to keep them from shaking, but then he changed his mind and took Cas's hands instead; he was going to do this right, even if it meant Cas feeling how nervous he was about this.

"Cas. I don't know if you meant it when you said you wanted to retire and move here, but… I want that. With you. And this house, it… it can be our new home. If you want."

Cas's eyes went wide, and then he was looking – briefly – at the parts of the house that were visible from where they were standing, before his eyes met Dean's again. Maybe he hadn't realised that Dean had been serious about wanting to retire, or maybe he wasn't expecting this so soon, because he seemed unable to form a response, just staring until Dean started to get nervous for real.

"Come on, dude." Dean blushed under Cas's gaze. "Say something. It's okay if you don't want to, I'll just sell the house, but—"

"You've bought it already?" Cas interrupted, looking taken aback, and Dean shrugged awkwardly.

"I, um. Shit. I know it was presumptuous," he stammered, "I just thought – you said – and then this house was for sale and there was a poltergeist and—"

"Dean," Cas laughed all of a sudden, his voice warm and his eyes full of mirth. "Relax. Poltergeist?" He shook his head. "Never mind, you can tell me later. But Dean…" He squeezed Dean's hands gently, even though they were clammy and almost slipping in his grasp. "Nothing would make me happier than moving here with you."

Dean wasn't sure he could believe that Cas was really saying what it sounded like he was saying. "Really?"

He got his answer when Cas wrapped his arms around him and pulled him in for an enthusiastic kiss that made Dean feel like his heart was swelling in his chest.

"Come on," Cas said when they broke apart. "Let's go get the others and show them our new home."

A couple of minutes later, Dean and Cas had two happy children in their arms, taking turns hugging them before they started running around to explore their uncles' new house, and then it was Sam and Eileen's turn to hug them.

"Finally," Eileen said, her voice emotional and her eyes less than dry as she wrapped her arms around Dean's waist. "I've been waiting for you two knuckleheads to give up hunting so we don't have to worry about our childrens' uncles getting killed by monsters anymore."

It was the first time Eileen had ever called them "knuckleheads" or anything of the sort, and Dean couldn't help but laugh, the love in the room making his eyes a bit moist as well, not that he'd ever admit to that later.

"So. How about New Years' at our place? We've even got two guest rooms."

"We do?" Cas asked, wonder in his eyes as he started looking around as if just now remembering that he and Dean had a brand new house that he hadn't even had a proper look at yet, and Dean took his hand again. 

"Come on. I'll show you around our new home." Those last three words had a nice ring to them that Dean could get used to, and he was looking forward to a new year and a new life. His and Cas's life, together.


End file.
